Hailing from Nashville, TN, Christopher Lowry is emerging as one of the leading violists and most performed composers of his generation. He is a two-time prize winner in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, winning the “Jury Panel Prize” in 2016 and Yuri Bashmet’s “President of the Jury Prize” in 2013. He has also won prizes in the Lewisville Lake Symphony International String Competition (2015), LSU Concerto Competition (2014, 2012), Marquette Symphony Concerto
Competition (2014), Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition (2012), Vanderbilt Concerto Competition (2008), ASTA National Solo Competition (2007), and the Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition (2006), among many others.

Recently, Lowry was a winner of the 2016 Oklahoma Youth Winds Composition Competition, 2016 Salford International Composing Contest, 2016 ABLAZE Orchestral Masters Call for Scores, 2016 Alabama Symphony Orchestra Call for Scores, 2016 BandWidth Music Festival Call for Scores, and the 2016 Missouri Composers Orchestra Project Composition Competition. He also won second prize in the 2015 World Projects Composition Competition, and as a result, his orchestral piece Tranquillo, Opus 3a, was premiered in Carnegie Hall in June 2016. In addition, he has won awards in the NAfME Composition Competition (2015, 2012), Frank Van Der Stucken Composition Award (2015), the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra Composition Competition (2015), and the Anton Stadler International Basset Clarinet Composition Competition (2010), among others.

His music has been performed all over the world by ensembles such as the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Philharmonic, Imperial Symphony, Central Band of the Royal Air Force (UK), Austin Peay State University Symphony, Middle TN State University Symphony, Vanderbilt Wind Symphony, Blair Chamber Choir, New York All-State String Orchestra, Plainview Old-Bethpage JFK High School String Orchestra, Lynbrook High School Symphony Orchestra, Curb Youth Symphony, Nashville Youth Philharmonia, Nashville Summer Orchestral Institute, Quad Cities Youth Symphony, Louisiana Youth Orchestra, Louisiana Junior Youth Orchestra, Oklahoma Youth Wind Ensemble, members of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, and viola quartets of the Taipei Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic, among others. His piece A Cypress Prelude, Opus 16, was recently recorded by Mikel Toms and the Brno Philharmonic (Czech Republic) for commercial CD release (ABLAZE Records: Orchestral Masters,
Volume 4).

Lowry is equally active as a composer, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, session musician, and recording engineer. He is currently Assistant Principal Violist for the Baton Rouge Symphony and Principal Violist for the Acadiana Symphony, and he is a founding member of the Ars Nova String Quartet. He has been featured as a soloist with the Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Sinfonietta, LSU Symphony, LSU Philharmonia, LSU Camerata, Nashville Sinfonietta, Vanderbilt University Orchestra, Blair Reading Ensemble, Atlantic Ensemble, and others. He recently recorded Dinos Constantinides’s Grecian Variations for Solo Viola, LRC 106a with the Louisiana Sinfonietta for commercial CD release on Centaur Records.